EU concerned over Ukrainian drone crash in Finland but says "Russia is to blame"

The European Union is concerned over the incident involving a Ukrainian drone crashing in Finland; however, it believes the drone posed no security threat to the member state and recognises that Russia is the root cause of the situation.

As reported by a  European Pravda correspondent in Brussels, the European Commission considers the incident with the Ukrainian drone in Finland to be a direct consequence of Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

"We are very well aware of what happened and are following it very closely… We are, of course, very concerned about these drone incursions," said European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier.

He added, however, that responding to such incidents is "primarily the competence of the member states".

Anitta Hipper, Lead Spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, also stressed that the root cause of the incident is Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

"From a diplomatic point of view, our message is clear… Even when we have drones flying over EU member states, the main culprit here is Russia. Without Russia, this would not have happened," Hipper stressed.

European Commission Deputy Chief Spokesperson Olof Gill added that, based on his understanding of the situation, the incident "does not appear to pose any security threat" to the EU member state.

Thomas Regnier also said that the EU is already taking a number of measures to strengthen member states' counter-drone capabilities, including a newly approved programme under EDIP, which provides for significant funding for anti-drone systems.

Several drones violated Finland's airspace on Sunday 29 March. Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said that the drones that crashed on Finnish territory on Sunday afternoon were likely Ukrainian, as Ukraine had been attacking Russian targets in Russia's Leningrad Oblast, which borders Finland.

Ukraine had already apologised to Finland over the drone incident.